Lazarus
by Brenna
Summary: So what ever happened to Jack's clone? WIP
1. Chapter 1

Jack O'Neill, though that name was no longer his...had never really been his, stood in the doorway of the school and watched his other self, the real Jack O'Neill, drive away. It had only taken about two weeks from the time Thor returned him to the SGC for him to reach this point. Doc Frasier had insisted on what seemed to him like every medical test he'd ever been subjected to, in triplicate, over the first seventy two hours after his return. It had given him time to think about what he wanted to do now that he was a healthy fifteen year old again. He suspected that was half the reason for Frasier keeping him confined to the infirmary with those tests. The other half being her own curiosity.

During that time he'd thought a lot about what Carter had said, about having fun living his life over again. He had to admit it had been nice to climb up to that mountain stream to fish without the normal pain in his knees. He did miss the beer though. He consoled himself with the fact that he wouldn't always be underage, but even if he injured himself again, because of the advances in medical technology the problems with his knees could be gone forever. Gone too was his past and the future he'd planned for himself. Being Samantha Carter's CO and a dozen years her senior had been one thing, but now he was more than twenty years her junior and jail bait besides. So his past and future were gone, but he also knew that so was his present. There was no place for a fifteen year old kid at the SGC despite the eventual acceptance of those fighter jocks. For hours after that realization had hit, he lay in the infirmary bed in the deepest depression he'd felt since Charlie died. A quick visit from Daniel reminded him that he was falling back into that place he'd sworn he would never go to again. After Daniel left he'd realized there was nothing he could do about the past and present, but his future was still in his control. He could have gone with the Tok'ra. Jacob had made the offer. It had been tempting to continue the fight against the goa'uld while he waited to grow up. There was no question in his mind what he wanted for his future. He wanted back here. He wanted the SGC, but not yet nor any time in the near future. General Hammond, of course, thought he was crazy when they met to discuss his future.

"You want to WHAT!?" Hammond had exclaimed when he first told the older man his intentions.

"I want to go back to high school," he had repeated.

"Why?" the general had asked with genuine confusion in his expression.

"Because I can't stay here," he'd answered. The general had sighed in such a way that he had known his commanding officer, O'Neill's commanding officer he reminded himself, had already come to the same conclusion. "Sir, eventually I want to be able to come back here," he had explained. Pointing out the observation window to the embarkation room below them, he'd continued, "Back out there. Before that can happen though, I need to finish growing. It's tempting to take Jacob up on his offer. But if I went to the Tok'ra with Jacob, I'd go as Jack O'Neill's clone. He's Jack O'Neill. Not me. I need to learn to be someone other than Jack O'Neill. I can't do that here or with the Tok'ra. School's a good place to learn and grow." 

"How long do you think it will take you to learn and grow enough to get back here?" Hammond had asked out of curiosity.

"Five to ten years," he had answered honestly. "I'm not interested in coming back as a grunt. I'm coming back as an officer with some letter soup after my name." 

There had been a layer of steel in his voice that Hammond had easily recognized and acknowledged with a nod. "Well, the first thing you're going to need is a new name," he had suggested.

"Jacob Charles Lazarus at your service, General Hammond," he had informed the man seated across the conference room table from him having already thought about that particular issue quite a lot. "Call me Jake."

"Jake Lazarus?" Hammond had asked.

"Apropos don't you think?" he had asked. " I think Lazarus has a ring to it, too, and Jake is close enough to Jack that it shouldn't take me too long to get used to it."

And that had been that. He and General Hammond had spent the next few hours fleshing out his fictitious past. Jacob Charles Lazarus was the son of Joseph Lazarus and his wife Megan, Peace Corp volunteers, who recently died in a particularly bloody uprising in Africa leaving him alone in the world. With the details of his new past added to all of the pertinent computer databases thanks to Major Davis, Generals Hammond and Carter arranged for various trusted connections to remember Joe Lazarus and his family if asked. To explain his familiarity with the Air Force, and why they were paying his bills, his fictitious father had a career in the Air Force quite similar to one Jonathon O'Neill. Joseph Lazarus had met his wife Megan on a rescue mission to rescue a group of Peace Corp volunteers whose plane had been shot down in some very unfriendly skies over South America. The young Peace Corp volunteer had fallen in love with her rescuer, and he with her or so their fictitious story went. Joe was older than his bride and nearing retirement so Megan put her plans to return to the Peace Corp on hold for several years to follow her husband around the world with the Air Force. Soon after the birth of their only child, Jake, Joe had retired and the Lazarus family had followed Megan's dream.

Major Davis had also been called upon to arrange for his status as an emancipated minor. With some negotiation, Davis had even arranged for him to receive a fairly generous monthly stipend until he officially turned twenty-one along with a large cash settlement supposedly from his parents' life insurance. The "insurance" money was intended to cover his college costs so that he could "re-train" for a new career. Jake had snorted derisively when informed about that. He fully intended for Uncle Sam to pick up the costs of his college education through ROTC. As for a new career, he liked the old one just fine, thank you very much. He intended to come back more prepared though. The money would no doubt come in handy. Along with his new name had come a new date of birth. Jacob Charles Lazarus had turned sixteen the day Loki had cloned Jack O'Neill. Jake could deal with being thought of as a skinny undersized sixteen year old, but there was no way in Hell he was going to leave himself at the mercy of public transportation for over a year. It had taken some convincing, but General Hammond had eventually agreed. A few more months, and he'd be eligible to get his driver's license.

_'Now I just need some new wheels,'_ he thought as he regretfully watched O'Neill's black truck pull around the corner. He loved that truck. Jake sighed knowing there was no way his new vehicle, whatever it ended up being, would measure up to that black beauty. Until he got a driver's license he'd have to make do with public transportation and a bicycle or maybe a scooter. That was already on his shopping list for this afternoon after school along with furniture, some more clothes, and some household items. Takeout was fine for awhile, but eventually Jake knew he'd want to be able to cook in the kitchen of his brand new apartment. Daniel had taken him along two days ago when the newly resurrected archaeologist finally got around to looking for an apartment for himself. He, or the real Jack O'Neill rather, had put Daniel's things in storage a year ago when he had ascended, but the apartment had been let go. Daniel had been content for the past few weeks to remain in the quarters on base that had been provided for him so it wasn't hard to imagine his sudden interest in apartment hunting had more to do with wanting to help Jake than any real need on Daniel's part. After a few hours looking at apartments, he and Daniel had both signed leases on apartments in the same complex. It also wasn't hard for him to figure out that Daniel took that apartment to let him have some connection with his past, and more importantly, a willing ear to listen when he needed to talk about what everyone knew would be a difficult transition for him. The archaeologist's brain may have been still a little Swiss cheesed like that guy on that television show Carter loved to watch, but he still recognized Jack, and by extension Jake, as his friend. It wasn't just the real Jack O'Neill that was having a hard time interacting with Jake. Carter and Teal'c were avoiding him as well. He didn't even try to figure out the jaffa's reasons, but Carter's were pretty obvious. He couldn't say he blamed her either. Daniel at least tried to treat him like a normal human being. 

As soon as the tail lights disappeared, Jake turned to weave his way through the teeming mass of students loitering in the halls before the bell rang. As he wove between the groups of students he searched for where he had been told to go. His eyes finally found the small sign over the door at the end of the hall that read 'Administration.' He sidestepped a couple locking lips in the center of the hall just before a teacher appeared from one of the classrooms to break them apart. Jake opened the door to the office closing it as soon as he'd stepped inside. In comparison to the hallway outside, the office was blessedly quiet. A dozen students stood impatiently in line in front of the counter behind which the school's middle aged secretary stood filling out a piece of paper which she handed to the first student in line before moving on to the next. Jake spent the next few minutes waiting in line observing the other students and the secretary as she accepted medications and filled out tardy and pre-arranged absence slips for the various students.

"I need to register for classes," Jake informed her when he finally reached the front of the line. From his backpack, he withdrew the manila folder Hammond had given him containing all the papers he would need.

"Your parent or guardian needs to come in to enroll you," the woman began to explain to him.

"I'm an emancipated minor," Jake quickly interjected before she could make the embarrassing offer to call his mother for him.

"Oh," she exclaimed softly. "Well then...you have proof?" 

Jake handed her the folder then waited as she examined the legal documents inside. He could tell the exact instant she decided to take this up the proverbial ladder. She grabbed a clipboard from under the counter and piled various forms on top of it before handing it to him. "Why don't you start filling those out while I see about these?" she suggested handing him the clipboard and a pen and pointing to the battered seating arrangement in the corner with one hand. Jake pointedly ignored the curious looks he was getting from the other students as he took the offered seat and dropped his backpack on the floor at his feet. The secretary sent a page out across the PA then returned to dealing with the line of students while she waited for the person she had summoned to appear. 

Jake was just completing the forms when a tall man in dress slacks and a business shirt entered the office. After a hurried consultation with the secretary, he approached Jake. Consulting the papers she had handed him, the man said, "Jacob Lazarus. I'm Principal Sumner. Mrs. Terrance says you're here to enroll?"

"Yes, sir" Jake confirmed holding out the clipboard with the completed papers attached to it.

"Why don't we go into my office and talk," Sumner suggested pointing the way behind the counter with the clipboard.


	2. Chapter 2

Half an hour later as Jake followed Mr. Sumner down the hall, he couldn't help thinking that if the principal ever needed a new career he would make an excellent interrogator. As Sumner had entered Jake into the school's computer records, the principal had carefully questioned him. It wasn't hard to realize the man was trying to gauge whether or not Jake really was mature enough to be on his own and just what kind of help he and the school might need to provide for their newest student. Principal Sumner had apparently seen something in Jake he liked because when he handed Jake his class schedule, Sumner also gave him one of his business cards with his home and cell phone numbers written on the back and told Jake to call him if he ever needed help. Jake had thanked the man while privately thinking he would hopefully never have to take the man up on his offer.

Jake followed Sumner down the hall to another office where the principal knocked quietly on the door then waited for a response from within. A male voice from inside responded, "Enter." With his hand, Sumner motioned Jake to wait in the corridor while he entered and shut the door behind him. Jake could hear the two men conversing quietly, but the closed door prevented him from understanding what they were saying. He knew, obviously, that he was the subject of conversation, but was curious about what was actually being said. Within a few minutes, the door was opened again and the principal reappeared with occupant of the office in tow.

"This is Dr. Laski," the principal introduced the tall slender man with more hair in the beard on his chin than on the top of his head. "He's the school counselor." 

"We're going to get you started on some placement tests, Mr. Lazarus" the counselor informed Jake, "so we can put you in the right classes."

"Okay," Jake agreed affably. He ambled along behind the counselor as he lead Jake down yet another hall.

"I understand your mother was the one who taught you up until now?" Dr. Laski asked.

With difficulty, Jake refrained from rolling his eyes as yet another interrogation began. "Yes, sir" he confirmed instead. "Mom and Dad were with the Peace Corp. She taught all the village children not just me. Most of the villagers stopped sending their kids to the school after sixth grade or so. At that point Mom had me and a few other kids working on individual courses of study."

"You must be experiencing a bit of culture shock," the counselor inquired. 

"A bit," Jake admitted, and it wasn't a lie. Being back in high school after what seemed to him like thirty years _was _a bit of a culture shock. His memories of high school were from the era when teacher's used yardsticks to measure the number of inches above the knee a girl's skirt was. As he'd entered the school Jake had noted that many of the skirts on his new classmates were **_way_** more than two inches above the knee. Jake had no problem with that. It was the boys with the _**waist**_ of their pants only two inches above the knee that confused the hell out of him. "One of my dad's friends faced a similar experience when he was a kid," Jake said thinking of Daniel's adjustment as a little boy after his parents were killed. "He's been helping me get through it."

"That's good," Laski commented as he opened the door to the counselor's office. He led Jake to a small room empty except for a small round table and chairs. "Take a seat, and I'll be right back" he commanded. Jake dropped his bag into one chair and himself into another. It wasn't long before Laski returned with several booklets in his hand along with the expected bubble-sheets and No. 2 pencil. "Just do your best, Mr. Lazarus. There's no time limit," Laski explained. "I'll be in my office when you're done. It's two doors down on the right," he reminded Jake.

Jake nodded to the older man then turned his attention to the test in front of him. As soon as the counselor had left the room, Jake skimmed through each of the booklets trying to decide just how well he should do on these tests. Though he'd never let on to his teammates, Jack O'Neill had advanced degrees in mathematics and engineering. In the year between the first Abydos mission and the second, he'd taken such an interest in astronomy and space exploration that he'd thought long and hard about pursuing yet another degree. With Charlie dead and Sara gone, he hadn't exactly had much to do in retirement. Deep space radar telemetry was not as farfetched a cover story for him as it at first seemed. Before the death of his son, Jack had already been working towards make the shift to civilian life. Those degrees had been part of that shift. After his return from Iraq he hadn't been interested in returning to black ops. Trust in your team was integral to such work, and Jack's trust had been through the wringer when his team left him behind. Instead, he had been assigned to a series of R&D projects where he had developed his now infamous dislike of scientists. That squid flyboy Hunter Ellis could talk about "Tactical to Practical," but in Jake's experience, or Jack O'Neill's anyway, theoretical to tactical was the real bitch. In his estimation, scientists were most often more interested in proving their pet theories correct than the safety of those doing the proving. Exhibit A of the O'Neill Theory? Dr. Daniel 'I can get you home' Jackson on the first mission to Abydos. Only a major amount of dumb luck and a bit of flirting with a pretty girl had allowed Daniel to keep that promise. Thankfully, several years in the field had cured Daniel of that tendency. After thinking about it for a moment, Jake amended that statement. Daniel was mostly cured of that tendency...mostly. 

With a shake of his head, Jake put those thoughts behind him and turned his concentration to the first test booklet.


	3. Chapter 3

Sumner quietly opened the door to the second floor classroom then ushered Jake in ahead of him. He waited patiently as the teacher inside finished what he was saying then assigned a short reading assignment to his students to occupy their attention while he came over to speak with his boss.

"Mr. Alvarez, I'd like you to meet Jake Lazarus" Sumner told the Hispanic man who didn't appear to be much older than his students. "He'll be joining your class starting today."

Mr. Alvarez held out his hand to Jake as he said in greeting, "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lazarus." After he released Jake's hand, Mr. Alvarez half turned to look at the rows of science stations arrayed around the room before finally pointing to a table near the windows where a single student sat. "Why don't you join Ms. Donnelly at that table over there." Raising his voice as he continued now addressing the girl at the table, "Ms. Donnelly, please share your book with Mr. Lazarus today." He returned his attention once more to his new student. "I'll have your text book for you tomorrow."

"Yes, sir" Jake acknowledged quietly then wove his way through the rows of tables to the one his new teacher had pointed to. "Hi," he said quietly to the girl already seated there as he dropped his backpack onto the table and took the empty seat.

"Hi," she returned almost too quietly to hear. She was an extremely thin girl though from the worn look of her clothes Jake suspected it was a result of real hunger and not slavery to fashion. Her dark brown hair hung loosely down her back though Jake thought he saw hints of red in it. Her face unlike that of most of the other girls in the room was devoid of make-up. While he was checking her out, so too, was she taking a good long look at him. It was the look on her face as she did so that mostly caught his attention. It reminded him of his or rather O'Neill's teammates. The naked curiosity in her eyes was a reflection of Daniel and Carter, but it was tempered with a wary reserve that reminded him of Teal'c. There was calculation in that wariness that also reminded him of Teal'c and a shyness that reminded him of Daniel as he had been on the first Abydos mission. Back then Daniel had been so beaten down by fate and the world that he had simply accepted it as the way his life was supposed to be, and from her appearance this girl wasn't far from that. The girl reluctantly pushed her book to the middle of the table and scooted her chair a fraction closer to the middle. 

Jake swiveled on his stool to get a better look at the textbook but made no move to get any closer to the girl not wanting to set her any more on edge than she obviously already was. Out of the corner of his eye, Jake saw one muscle-bound bruiser nudge another seated next to him. The two shared a whispered conversation while looking directly at him. Jake was sure to most in the room it would look like they were just speculating about who the new guy might be, but it wasn't hard for him to spot a pair of bullies discussing their next would-be victim. _'They're in for a surprise,'_ Jake thought to himself. While he may have the body of a skinny fifteen year old, he had the knowledge of a Spec. Op. veteran with more than thirty years of experience. Those two were **_ way_** out of their league, and he would enjoy enlightening them to that fact so long as they went after him off school grounds. Jake had no interest in being expelled for fighting on his first day of school.

He did his best to pay attention to Mr. Alvarez for the rest of the class period, but his trouble radar kept screaming danger in his head. Jake followed along with the lecture as best he could as he mentally reviewed his options for avoiding a fight in the hallway. When the bell rang and Alvarez dismissed the class, Jake turned to the girl seated next to him. "Ahh...listen," he said then paused trying to remember her name. "What's your first name anyway?"

"Jenny," the girl told him reluctantly as she packed her textbook into her backpack.

"I'm J...ake," he told her remembering at the last moment to give her his assumed name. "Could you help me find my next class?" he asked. "Walk me there? See those two guys..." Jake started to explain jerking his head to the right to indicate the two teenagers lingering at the door.

"Dumb and dumberer over there?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jake confirmed with a lopsided grin pouring on his not inconsiderable charm. "I...ahh...got a feeling they want to start something, and I really don't want to get thrown out of school for fighting on my first day. So I think it's in my best interest if I'm not wandering the halls lost if you know what I mean?"

"Let me see your schedule," Jenny ordered reluctantly as she held out her hand. Jake handed it over gratefully. She studied it for a moment then said, "I'm in the classroom across the hall. Let's go."

Jake gathered his own backpack then followed close behind as Jenny led the way down the rows of tables to the classroom door. At the door they were stopped momentarily by Alvarez until Jenny confirmed that she was helping him find his next class. As soon as they were out the door though the two bullies reappeared. 

"We want to talk to you," the bigger one said.

"Moe, Curly," his feminine guard called the two. "Go find Larry. This isn't the place for you two idiots to pick a fight." The one she'd called 'Curly' took a menacing step towards her. Jake immediately straightened from his casual slouch and put as much menace into his posture as his scrawny teenage body could manage. "He's brand new today, and you two just got off two weeks in-school. Who do you think Sumner's going to believe started it?" Jenny asked. By this time their little confrontation was starting to draw a crowd. Jake could see at least one teacher headed this way. 

"Watch your back," 'Moe' warned Jake before pulling his companion away.

"Who are those two and what did I do to piss them off?" Jake asked rhetorically.

"Alex Vasquez and Sean Hutchison," Jenny told him as she grabbed his arm and lead him down the hall. "You didn't have to do anything to piss them off. You just look the way you look. They're the stars of the football team. Hutchison's dad is some high power attorney who gets him out of whatever trouble he gets into."

"Can't I **_ever_** catch a break!" Jake swore heavenward understanding immediately that the school's bullies had just identified him as their new target.


	4. Chapter 4

Ms. Jenny Donnelly was standing outside his Latin class when the bell rang. "We both have gym next," she said by way of greeting. "I figured I'd show you the way."

"Thanks," Jake told her. "I appreciate it." They walked in silence for a minute or two before Jake decided to try to break the ice. "I can't believe they still teach Latin."

"No offense, but you don't seem the type to take that class," his guide pointed out.

"A friend of mi...my father's taught me a few years ago," Jake told her. "I figured it would be an easy A. Besides, the placement tests they gave me this morning tested me out of most of the social studies requirements and all the math and English. I didn't have a lot of choices," he added with a grimace. He had purposely not done his best on the tests, but he'd still managed to hit the upper ranges of most of the tests. After some discussion, he and Dr. Laski had hammered out a class schedule composed mainly of science, history, and technology classes. Even with the technology classes to fill out his schedule, he would still graduate at the end of the school year just before he would officially turn seventeen. It was unfortunate that this school was too small to have an International Baccalaureate program to help him get a jump start on his undergraduate degree, but he could always take some online courses during his free period and at night. 

As they arrived at the large gym, Jenny pointed out the barrel chested man who taught boy's PE when he wasn't coaching football. Jake thanked her once again before they parted ways, she to the girls' locker room and he to meet the coach/gym teacher. The coach ruffled his hand through his hair as he looked Jake up and down. "I'll let you participate in street clothes today," the coach, Mr. Martin, finally decided. "Tomorrow, I expect you to have a white t-shirt and black shorts to wear though," he warned as the first of the other students came out onto the court and took their places in the bleachers for roll call. Martin had Jake take a seat in the front row for the day.

Jake found himself observing the other students as they trickled out of the locker room and up into the bleachers for roll call, the boys in the east bleachers and the girls in the west. As the students sat talking in small groups Jake began to remember just how cliquish high school had been and apparently still was. The popular girls, by far the largest group, sat in one area chattering a mile a minute while other smaller groups of two or three girls bunched together in other areas. On the boys' side of the bleachers it was much the same. The largest (and by far loudest) group there was the jocks. Clusters of other boys chatted quietly waiting for the coach to reappear signaling roll call. Then, of course, were those on both sides of the gym floor who were sitting by themselves. Jake noticed that both he and Ms. Donnelly were counted among that number. In his case, the reason was obvious. He didn't know anyone. Jake knew he should be using this opportunity to introduce himself to his fellow students, but he literally wasn't comfortable enough yet in his own skin to do that. Jake knew he could lie with consummate skill thanks to Jack O'Neill's years of deflecting questions about his covert ops career, but lying to strangers and reporters was one thing. Lying to people he hoped to make his friends was another. It was something Jack O'Neill had rarely done. Far more often than not, O'Neill would simply deflect the question or answer without really answering. It was something he would have to get used to, but he wasn't ready to do so yet at least not on a large scale. However, he'd already been introduced to Ms. Jenny Donnelly, and maybe that was the place to start. He could use a friend, and from what he'd seen of her, so could she.

Jake put those thoughts aside as his trouble radar began warning him of danger yet again. From the corner of his eye, he saw the bully Jenny Donnelly had identified as Sean Hutchison speaking in hushed tones to the huddle of jocks in the bleachers and groaned to himself. There must have been eight or nine of them covertly eyeing him. They were at least trying to be covert about it, Jake thought as he monitored them with real covert skills honed over years working in enemy lands. His attention was drawn away momentarily as Coach Martin and the girl's gym teacher came walking out to the gym with another man wearing a custodian's uniform. The three were deep in discussion as they paused under the basketball backboard and hoop suspended from the ceiling. The custodian gestured with his hands as he spoke to the other two then the woman teacher said something to Martin who sighed and nodded before heading over to where his students sat in the bleachers. On both sides of the gymnasium students scrambled into their assigned places. 

After he finished calling roll, the coach explained to his students that due to a water main break there would be a change of plans for the day's classes. Both the boys' and girls' classes would be sharing the gym today as the practice field was currently several inches of mud. "Since there wasn't any time to plan anything, we're going to play dodge ball," the coach announced to the delight of the jocks though the reaction of some of the other students was decidedly more tepid. Jack O'Neill had never considered himself clairvoyant, and neither did Jake. However, from time to time he had experienced moments of perfect clarity where the path of things to come was laid out before him like a road map. Jake found himself having one of those moments of clarity just then. More often than not these moments came just before battle, and while dodge ball wasn't the battlefield he was used to, Jake could tell by the way Hutchison and his pals were eyeing him that battle had nonetheless been declared. _ 'This is going to hurt,'_ Jake admitted to himself.

Jake had so far avoided that hurt forty minutes later as he quickly sidestepped yet another rubber ball, but he didn't think he would be able to keep it up much longer. Thor had cured the cellular degradation that had been killing him, but he hadn't done anything beyond that. Jake's body was still newly formed, and like any newly born creature he needed to develop the strength and coordination in his muscles. He was fine with every day activities, though he found himself more tired than normal at the end of the day. Other than the hike up to that stream this was the most physical exertion he'd done, and it was beginning to show. There were only a few minutes left in the class, but Jake was trying to strategize a graceful way out of the game when he noticed Hutchison get a thoroughly malevolent gleam in his eye as he took aim with the ball in his hand. For a moment, Jake thought it was aimed at him but then he followed Hutchison's eye to the girl standing a few feet away at the edge of the court. He realized then that the bully had decided to pay Jake's rescuer back for her interference. 

At that moment, Hutchison whipped the ball towards his intended victim with such force that Jake knew that what he'd foreseen in that moment of clarity was coming to pass. _'You were looking for a way out of the game,'_ he reminded himself as pivoted on the ball of his left foot placing himself between the ball and Jenny. 

Jenny's eyes widened as she was suddenly face to face with the boy she'd met just that morning. She gasped herself when she heard the grunt of pain Jake couldn't quite suppress as the ball connected a split second later. Jake stumbled towards her with the force of the blow forcing her to put a hand on his chest to stop him from falling into her. As she did so, she looked beyond him in the direction from which the attack had come and saw the disappointment at missing his original target flit across Sean Hutchison's face before being replaced by a malicious delight in the pain he'd caused his unintended victim. As soon as Jake righted himself, Jenny scooped up the fallen ball and hurled it back at Sean aiming decidedly lower than his chest. Jake watched as her mouth formed a purely feminine smirk of triumph. He turned just in time to see the ball hit precisely where she'd aimed. _ 'The lady can take care of herself,'_ Jake thought to himself with a small wince of sympathy for the bent over football player.


	5. Chapter 5

It was Jake's turn to be waiting outside when Jenny exited the girls' locker room after gym class. "Hey," he said in greeting. 

"What are you doing here?" she demanded suspiciously. 

"Thought you might need a bodyguard," he responded only half in joking, "and I could use someone to eat lunch with." Jake waited as she thought about that. "At least show me where the cafeteria is," he cajoled. "You can think about the actual eating part on the way."

Jake watched her consider it for a moment before she finally said, "Alright." She led them through the wide hallways of the school. From the direction they were headed, Jake could hear a cacophony of noise. "Why do you want to eat with me?" she asked him finally.

"Because you're the only one I know," Jake admitted. It wasn't a comfortable thing for him to do. A large part of him cried out in protest that he wasn't alone, but the fact that no one had come to say goodbye this morning and his short conversation with the real Jack O'Neill told a different story. He'd had breakfast in the commissary with Daniel and left with a promise to have dinner tonight in Daniel's new apartment. Daniel it seemed would be his only link to the life he remembered, probably for many years to come. He knew he couldn't count on much from Daniel either. Daniel would try, but between his missions off-world with SG-1 and his on-base duties, it wasn't that uncommon for Daniel to spend a week or more at a time hold up inside the mountain. "I'm a bit out of my depth here," Jake told her as they joined the line of students waiting to be served, "and I'm hoping you'll throw me a rope. I'm not trying to hit on you or anything. I just...I could use a friend."

"Okay," she agreed finally. "We'll eat lunch and talk."

"That was a...uhh...very nice throw you made in gym," he told her hesitating only for a moment before deciding on the more diplomatic description. "He's probably going to come after you, you know?" Jake pointed out. "Bullies don't like it when you make them look weak."

"I know," she admitted, "but the look on his face... He enjoyed hurting you! Oh my God! I forgot to ask...how badly did he hurt you?"

"Just a bruise," Jake told her shrugging away her concern. "I'll be black and blue for a few days, but nothing big." 

Jenny nodded accepting his answer as she took the plate of wanna-be meatloaf from the lunch lady behind the glass partition. "He's been after me for months anyway," Jenny confided. "God's gift to Colorado Springs got grabby with me so I kneed him in the family jewels." 

_'That seems to be a favorite target,'_ Jake thought as he made a mental note to make sure he wasn't within striking distance if she ever became mad at him. _'Definitely hints of red in her hair,' _he decided. _ 'She certainly has the temper of a redhead.'_ Jake's guess about her family's finances was confirmed when she handed the lunch lady a ticket of a different color than the others to be punched. He remembered from Jack's memories of eating lunch with Charlie and later Cassandra that the different colored tickets were used for kids receiving free or reduced price lunches. The different colors made them easier to separate for the lunch ladies when doing their accounting. They also made the poor kids stand out from the others, Jake thought sadly as Jenny led them to a sparsely populated end of the cafeteria, the misfits section. Any doubts he still had about her family's finances were gone once they sat down. He watched as his lunch companion opened her backpack and placed her apple and cookie inside. "You want mine too?" he asked holding out his own apple and cookie. "I don't really want 'em."

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment before taking the food from his outstretched hand. "Thanks," she said obviously suspecting the offer was charity and uncomfortable with it, but unwilling to turn away the gesture. "So you just moved here?" she asked in an obvious attempt to move the focus away from herself.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"You have any brothers or sisters?" she asked.

"No," Jake answered. Jack O'Neill did, but not Jacob Charles Lazarus. "What about you?"

"I have two half-brothers," Jenny told him. "Ethan's about to turn six, and Zach is two."

"Wow!" Jake exclaimed. "That's quite an age difference."

"Mom had me in high school," Jenny explained giving in to the patient kindness she saw in Jake's eyes. "Mom's one of those women who needs a man to take care of her. She didn't have a great home life."

"So she got pregnant with you deliberately?" Jake guessed.

Jenny nodded her head down. "At least she picked a good guy," Jenny said. "Dad was great. He was a couple years older than Mom. She snuck into a bar to meet him. He worked construction cause it paid well and didn't require a high school diploma. He took good care of her and me."

"Past tense?" Jake asked gently. "They're divorced?"

"No," Jenny admitted. "He died seven years ago. An accident on the job."

Jake nodded. "And Ethan's about to turn six you said?" Jake questioned. "She went out and found another man to take care of her?"

Jenny nodded. "She didn't pick so well that time," she said. "He stuck around for..."

"Three years?" Jake guessed.

Jenny nodded with a sigh. "This one's a real loser," Jenny confided to him with a grimace. A moment later, she straightened her shoulders as she shook her head as if to shrug off the topic. "Your turn," she declared.

Jake acquiesced giving her the short version of his fictitious background story. 

"I'm so sorry," Jenny whispered obviously embarrassed to have told her tale of woe to this boy whose family situation was worse than hers. At least she had her mom even if she didn't really like her all that much, and she loved her little brothers. If there was anything bigger than her temper about Jenny Donnelly, it was her heart. Jake said he could use a friend. He'd just found one.


	6. Chapter 6

Jenny escorted him to his next class after lunch even though it wasn't even on the same floor as hers, and before she left him there, she showed him on a map of the school contained in his brand new student handbook how to reach his other classes. Their talk over lunch had revealed the fact that they would ride the same bus to and from school. This led the two to arrange to meet after school to catch the bus together and talk some more. _'I can do this,'_ Jake thought and for the first time, he actually believed it. 

Jake's first class after lunch happened to be one of the more entertaining, for him at least. The study of mythology took on a whole new perspective once you'd met (and killed) a few gods. While it was entertaining, this course was also a serious one, for him at least. He doubted the same could be said of his fellow students. Mythology seemed to be for the most part a dumping ground for students who had nothing else they wanted to take. 

Jake was determined that a few years down the road when he was once again at the SGC that he wouldn't be dependent on some history geek every time they ran into a new goa'uld. Daniel did his best (and he had gotten better over the years), but what historians and anthropologists found important about a mythological god was rarely the same as what was really important when one was standing in front of you along with a bunch of jaffa guards aiming staff weapons at your chest. Daniel invariably gave a listing of every name associated with the fake god in question plus a family tree each time they encountered a new goa'uld. Nice to know, but Jake would much rather have an idea of where they fell on the sick and twisted scale. Lord Yu rated a lowly one on that scale whereas Ba'al currently topped the list at a nine. Neerti followed right behind with an 8.5 only losing half a point because she didn't seem to take as much personal joy in causing pain as Ba'al. Jake was reserving number ten on the scale for future use because, sadly enough, he didn't think they'd yet seen the heights of goa'uld depravity. Jake wanted to know any known strengths and weaknesses, as well. Goddess of fertility? Better send Carter, Frasier and the other ladies after her. Was he known for his arrogance or his cunning? Grand schemes or brute force? Did he have a consort who would want to exact revenge for his death? Was she an enemy of Ra or Hathor's rival? The enemy of my enemy wasn't always my friend...but they could be a useful, if not trusted, ally.

As he made his way from "Mythology" to "Intro to Programming", Jake discovered that Jenny Donnelly wasn't his only friend in school. At first, his name, his new name, being called didn't register. In fact, it wasn't until his arm was grabbed that he realized someone had been calling him and that he knew that someone as well.

"Hey, Jake" Cassie greeted him placing emphasis on his name as she smiled knowingly at him. "Mom told me you were starting school here today."

"Is she nuts!?" Jake demanded in surprise.

Cassie dragged him out of the crowded hallway to a quiet corner under the stairwell. "She had the general's permission," Cassie assured him. "She showed me your picture and told me everything. She thought you could use a familiar face and some help adjusting."

Jake blinked at that. "Tell her..." Jake considered for a moment just what he wanted to say to the little Napoleon wannabe. He wasn't good with words, and he knew it. He definitely wasn't good with all the touchy feely stuff, and the doc knew that as well. However, it didn't seem right to say nothing.

Cassie seemed to understand this though. She looped her arm through his as she said, "I'll tell her you're doing fine. You already have a girlfriend and a mortal enemy so you're fitting in pretty well, and that you appreciate the gesture."

"How the hell do you..." Jake gasped.

Cassie laughed as she dragged him down the hallway towards the computer labs. "This is high school," she reminded him. "Where we females learn to hone our gossiping skills."

"I'm not touching that one!" Jake told her knowing that if he did it would get back to her mother. It had been decided Frasier would be in charge of his medical care so the big needles were still very much a threat.

"No wonder people are talking about how smart you are," Cassie commented with a smirk. 

"Who me?" he asked innocently pasting Jack O'Neill's favorite "I'm an idiot" expression on his face.

"The jig's up, Jake" Cassie informed him. "One of the guys who helps in the counselor's office during study hall got hold of your test results and passed them around. You're officially a member of the geek squad."

"Well crap!" Jake muttered much to Cassie's amusement.

"So..." she said drawing out the word. "I could use some help with my term paper, nerd boy."

"That's so not funny, Cass" Jake told her. "I spent years perfecting my dumbass routine."

"Guess you'll have to learn a new one won't you?" Cassie smirked thinking that the twenty bucks she paid the kid in the counselor's office was money well spent. Her mom and the general had asked her to help Jake in his quest to become someone other than Jack O'Neill. They just hadn't been specific about how. Therefore, Cassie felt free to "out" his "dumbass routine" as a fake. Jack O'Neill had always allowed the people who really counted to know how smart he really was, and that included the small alien girl who called him Colonel Jack. Jayson Sheridan, her accomplice in the counselor's office, had not only provided the test results but has also photocopied them and passed them around at lunch.

"I am not a geek!" Jake denied just as the two reached the doors of the computer lab of Jake's next class. "No way!" he said backing out as he got his first look at his fellow students. 

"Aww...come on," Cassie cajoled pushing him forward again. "It's not that bad! You'll have fun!" she told him giving him a second shove into the room.

"Cassie!" Jake growled aware that she was having too much fun at his expense for her to be totally innocent. "What did you do?"

"See you tonight, Jake" she said ignoring the question. "Daniel invited Mom and I to dinner, too."

"Cassie!"

_'Maybe I should give Jayson a bonus,'_ Cassie mused as she waved to Jake over her shoulder on her way to her own class.


	7. Chapter 7

When Jake stepped off the bus that afternoon just ahead of Jenny Donnelly, he found two small boys waiting anxiously at the curb. As soon as they caught sight of Jenny though their little faces lost some of that anxiety. They surged around him to get to her almost knocking him aside in their hurry. Jenny stooped to pick up the smaller boy as she asked, "What's going on, guys?"

"Boyd's off-shift," the older boy explained. "He told us to tell you we got to play outside for a couple hours." Jenny nodded as if it were nothing new for them to be told not to come home for several hours, and Jake suspected that was exactly the truth. "Who's he?" he asked nodding towards Jake.

"Guys, this is Jake Lazarus," Jenny introduced him. "He just moved into one of the apartments," Jenny nodded to the buildings across the street from where the school bus had dropped them, "and started school today. Jake, meet my brothers, Ethan and Zach."

There was a noticeable amount of distrust in the young boy's eyes that Jake found incredibly sad. "Hi," Jake greeted them with a big smile. "Listen. I need to go to the grocery store, but I don't exactly know where it is," Jake lied. "Why don't you guys come with me...show me where it is and I'll buy us all a snack or something?" 

The wary expression on Ethan's face didn't disappear, but he did appear interested in the idea. There was no trace of suspicion of charity in Jenny's face this time, just the certainty of fact and reluctance to accept. The decision was made for her though when, in a loud clear voice, the younger of her brother's announced, "I'm hung'y, Jenny."

"There's a Super Wal-mart up the street," Jenny told him. "We can walk."

"Why don't we drop our packs in my apartment first?" Jake suggested.

"Whoa!" Ethan exclaimed a few minutes later as Jake led them into his brand new apartment. "You don't got nothin'!"

"My friend, Daniel, lives down the hall," Jake said. "He's going to let me crash on his couch until I get furniture. I'm going out tonight with him and a couple other friends to pick some stuff out that, hopefully, I can get delivered this weekend."

"You gonna live here by yourself?" Ethan asked incredulously.

"Ethan," Jenny reprimanded sharply afraid he was heading into an uncomfortable topic of conversation for Jake.

"It's okay," Jake told her. "Yeah, I'm gonna live here alone. My parents are dead."

"Why aren't you in foster care?" Ethan asked. "Jenny and me, we was in foster care for a while. Jenny's grandma took care of us. She even took me even though she ain't my grandma."

"My dad's mom," Jenny explained. "After Mom hooked up with Boyd, they went to court and got custody of us back. Mom hasn't let us see her since."

"I miss Grandma Fay" Ethan declared. 

"I miss her too," Jenny agreed a little sadly.

What seemed like a short distance to walk turned out to be much longer when limited to a six-year-old's pace. He and Jenny took turns carrying Zach, and Jake even convinced Ethan to take a piggy back ride for part of the distance. By the time they reached the huge store, Jake had mentally decided they were taking a cab back to the apartment. He could already tell he was going to have a hard time convincing Jenny though. Jake did convince her to take a seat at a table in the snack bar with the boys while he went and got the promised snack. Jake knew his definition of a snack wasn't the same as Jenny's as he ordered them each a drink, cheese fries, and a couple hot dogs. Jenny glared at him when he brought the small mountain of food to the table, and he knew for damned sure she was going to say a lot more as soon as she got him out of earshot of her brothers. That was okay though, because even though it wasn't what he'd consider a decent meal, it was still a meal well needed by the three siblings. Jenny's glare faded a bit as she watched her brother's wolf down the food. 

After they'd finished their 'snack,' Jake lifted Zach into the seat of the shopping cart and suddenly realized exactly how he was going to get Jenny to agree to that cab ride. He pushed the cart first to the housewares department where the first item he threw into the cart was a set of dishes. The dishes were quickly followed by pots and pans, silverware, a toaster, a mixer, and glasses. He kept Jenny distracted for a few minutes asking her and the boys opinion of what he should buy. The quiet before the storm didn't last long though as the items in his cart piled higher and higher. Finally, Jenny asked, "Jake, how can we possibly carry all this back?!"

Jake deliberately avoided her eyes pretending to consider the relative merits of different coffee makers as he replied. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe we could call a cab?"

"A cab?" Jenny repeated. "Do you know how expensive that would be?"

"Less expensive than me making several trips back here to get this stuff," Jake argued as he pulled the coffee maker of his choice off the shelf. 

"You gonna get a TV, Jake?" Ethan asked trying to divert his sister's attention. He thought taking a cab sounded neat, and he did not want to walk all that way back.

"I think I'll wait 'til I go with Daniel tonight," Jake told him. "That way Daniel can help me carry it. I want a big TV for my X-box," he added with a wink to Ethan who smiled in return.

When they finally left, they filled the entire trunk of the cab and carried more bags on their laps. It was worth it though as the boys helped Jenny put things away in his completely stocked kitchen while Jake hung his newly purchased wardrobe on his newly purchased clothes hangers. He'd debated buying some modular furniture, but decided that he would much prefer things that would last. Jack O'Neill's grandfather had enjoyed woodworking as a hobby, and during weekend visits and summer holidays, he'd taught his grandson a great deal. Jack had enjoyed it as well, Jake remembered, but he'd rarely had time to indulge in the hobby. Jake decided he'd take a look through the junk and antique shops around town. Goodwill and the Salvation Army. If he could find some good pieces, he knew he could restore them with a few simple tools. His townhouse apartment came with a garage so he might as well make use of it while he waited to get his driver's license.


	8. Chapter 8

At the end of his first full week of school Jake had come to one inescapable conclusion. He was now an official member of the geek squad. Jack O'Neill hung out enough in Carter and Daniel's offices to qualify for honorary membership, but Jake had somehow crossed over the threshold into full geekdom in the week he'd been at high school. Unlike Carter and Daniel, the teachers and students at school expected Jake to actually participate in the science instead of just monitoring their progress in a supervisory capacity, but since this was high school, the stakes weren't quite as high as saving the world. Besides the geek squad, Jake had joined another squad in the school's JROTC program. If he had needed further proof that there was a God and that He had a really warped sense of humor, his new JROTC CO, Lieutenant Frasier, was certainly providing it. Jake just hoped she got over the novelty of having a full bird colonel under her command quickly because he was getting damned tired of push-ups. Cassie, of course, claimed she was doing it for her mother who wanted Jake to develop his muscle tone. 'Yeah, right' Jake thought with a snort that turned into more of a grunt as he said, "Twenty-nine."  
  
Behind him, he heard a very amused voice whisper, "Trust me. I know the family. He's going to develop into a very fine specimen of the male form." This whisper was followed by a twitter of teenage giggles.  
  
"Thirty," he grunted as he pushed his upper body back up from the floor already plotting just what form his retribution would take because this embarrassment just could not go unpunished. On the up side, as a teenager he could actually get away with it. Unfortunately there were no naked baby pictures to pass around. 'Maybe I could threaten to tell Doc about Kevin,' Jake mused, 'or better yet, Teal'c and O'Neill.' He was already contemplating such an action anyway. In his experience as an older brother, boyfriends you didn't want your family to know often ended up being trouble. He'd already threatened the secret boyfriend in question, and being here in the same school he was much more likely than the 'adults' to hear about anything the little twerp might try.  
  
After the exploding light bulb incident, Cassie's popularity in school had taken a definite downturn. Many of Cassie's former friends didn't want to be seen with the 'freak,' and there were enough kids around school that remembered when she first came to Earth that her sometimes strange behavior as she learned about life on Earth had quickly become common knowledge as well. Jake knew the lack of friends over the last year had led to a period of depression a few months ago that had frightened Janet a great deal. During dinner at Daniel's the other night, Doc had gotten him alone for a minute on the balcony to assess his state of mind after his first day at school. Knowing there was no way to avoid it, Jake let her ask her questions and told her as much about his day as he was willing, which wasn't much. The good doctor had pursed her lips in annoyance, but let the matter drop. What she'd done next had surprised Jake. She asked Jake to be Cassie's friend. She and Dr. Laski were still concerned about Cassie's isolation from her classmates. Jake thought Cassie's recovery from her depression could most likely be attributed to this Kevin character. Jake had two classes with the young man, and so far, he seemed like an okay kid. He was a little geeky and a little older than Cassie. For now, all Jake planned to do was hang out with them and keep an eye on the situation, but if he found out the boy was playing with her vulnerability all bets were off.  
  
"Fifty," he counted. A moment later, with Cadet Frasier's permission, he pushed himself to his feet and waited for her next command.  
  
"Dismissed," Cassie told her squad. "Hey, Jake!" she called as the members of the squad broke away towards the locker rooms to get cleaned up. "What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?" she asked when he had moved back to stand in front of her.  
  
"They're delivering the furniture in the morning then I'm going to check out an antique mall downtown," Jake told her.  
  
"What for?" Cassie asked wrinkling her nose in distaste at the thought of all that old stuff.  
  
"Furniture," Jake answered. "My...ahh...granddad used to do some woodworking. I thought I'd see if I can pick up some furniture cheap and restore it," he explained.  
  
"Can I come?" Cassie asked.  
  
"Sure," he agreed then thought for a moment. "If you get Jack to lend you his truck," he bargained with an evil grin.  
  
It was a look Cassie returned. "Not a problem," she told him knowing he was well aware that she had Colonel O'Neill (and Jake Lazarus for that matter) wrapped around her little finger.  
  
The next morning Jake leaned against the kitchen counter as he ate his Fruity Pebbles (no Fruit Loops please) as he waited for the ladies to arrive. The first night of his new life had been taken up with dinner with Daniel and the two Frasier women then a few hours of shopping. He'd found a mattress and box spring set plus a bed frame at one store. Those had been delivered earlier this morning along with the sofa and easy chair for the living room from a different furniture store and the promised large screen television and game system from the electronics store. He'd dipped quite deeply into the resettlement monies he'd been given by the Air Force for that purpose and still had more to buy, but at least he could sleep in his own apartment.  
  
Jenny showed up with her brothers around noon as Jake was struggling to set up the game system he'd promised Ethan could try. Ethan had been duly impressed with the electronics. After about fifteen minutes of play, Jenny asked about his plans for the afternoon then asked to go along. Jake had been hesitant to agree not sure that the boys would have much fun, but in the end agreed. He'd had some concern about taking Zach without a car seat, but the promise of being kid-free for the entire afternoon was enough of an inducement for their mother to drop the three siblings at the antique mall and pick them up later. Now Ethan explored with eyes wide in wonder at the amazing assortment of merchandise stuffed to the ceiling in the large barn-like "antique mall." It was really just a warehouse divided into stalls where various dealers peddled everything from true antiques to crafts to bargain basement junk. Jenny kept the first grader's hand firmly clasped in hers while Jake carried Zach.  
  
"This is wild," Cassie exclaimed. She'd been a bit put out when Jake told her Jenny and the boys would be joining them, but he'd held firm remembering his conversation with Janet. Jake thought the two girls might become friends if he threw them together enough. "Look at all this crap!"  
  
"Crap is right," Jenny muttered eyeing a rusty old handsaw that seemed to scream for Ethan's attention.  
  
"Don't touch it," she warned him.  
  
"But it's cool!" Ethan protested.  
  
"Cool," Zach parroted from his perch in Jake's arms.  
  
"There's lots of cool things here," Jake agreed soothing Ethan's ruffled feathers while at the same time ruffling the boy's hair. "Just leave the sharp one's alone. Okay?" he requested.  
  
"Okay," Ethan acquiesced reluctantly though his eyes stayed fixed on the table full of antique tools obviously trying to figure out what many of them were.  
  
"That booth has some furniture," Cassie said as she pointed across the aisle diverting everyone's attention. The group quickly crossed to the booth of furniture leaving the rusted handle tools forgotten. Jenny placed Ethan's hand in Jake's then abandoned the three males to head directly to a large bureau painted a sickly green.  
  
"God that's awful!" Cassie said.  
  
"It's Shaker?" Jake asked the woman manning the booth.  
  
"Yes," she confirmed. "It's made of cherry and solidly built. There's a matching slat bed in the corner."  
  
"It'll take a lot of work," Jake said squatting down to take a closer look at the joints on the drawers. "Here, Zach" he told the toddler as he lifted him towards Cassandra. "Go to Cassie for a minute will you?" he spoke to Zach but the question was directed at Cassie. Zach pouted at the transfer, but Cassie began tickling him in the ribs to distract him from the impending temper tantrum.  
  
"How much are you asking?" Jake asked as he inspected the dresser. The woman named numbers for both the dresser and bed. Jake followed her over to get a look at the bed painted in the same ugly green color. Ten minutes of haggling later, Jake shook on the deal before getting out his checkbook. 


	9. Chapter 9

Ethan sat on the hard cement floor of Jake's garage with a quarter sheet of sand paper in his right hand and a round wooden knob in his other hand. He felt grown up and important as he rubbed the sand paper over the knob in the direction of the grain like Jake had shown him. Jake stood nearby using a power sander to strip away the ugly green paint from the top of the dresser. Every now and then Jake would look up from the dresser to check on him and say something about how good he was doing. It was nice to have someone other than Jenny paying attention to him. Grandma Fay used to, but he hadn't seen her in a long time now. He couldn't really remember his own dad, but Jenny talked about what it had been like when her dad was still alive. She said they used to do things together like go to the park and sometimes even the movies. Ethan didn't really remember his own dad, but he thought maybe this was what it was like to do guy things. Jake wasn't old enough to be his dad, but maybe Ethan could pretend Jake was his older brother. He'd let Ethan play on his X-box for a while yesterday before they'd gone shopping. That seemed like something an older brother would do.  
  
Ethan had been mad when Jenny said they had to stop playing to go shopping. He didn't really like shopping, at least not when he had to go with Mom, but that first trip to Wal-Mart had been cool, so Ethan hadn't whined too much. Secretly he'd hoped Jake would buy them another snack on this shopping trip, but he hadn't. Instead, they'd come back to Jake's apartment and unloaded Jake's ugly furniture from the back of the big black truck Cassie had driven. After everything was in the garage, Cassie and Jenny had cooked dinner while he and Jake played video games. Jenny hadn't wanted to stay. She and Jake went in the kitchen for a long time and he had heard them fighting even though he was playing video games with Cassie. It wasn't like when Boyd and Mom fought, though. Boyd and Mom yelled a lot more than Jake and Jenny. They'd gotten really quiet for a while, and Jenny had given Cassie a weird look when they came back into the living room. Jenny made them watch Zach while she and Cassie cooked, but Jake got Zach to sit in his lap so he hadn't been too much of a pain. Jake had even let Zach play for a little while! After dinner, he and Jake did the dishes because Jake said she who cooks doesn't clean. Ethan hadn't understood that because Jenny always cooked their food and she always cleaned. Jake had talked to him about how he should help Jenny when he could, like doing the dishes. Jake said it was an important part of growing up learning to do your fair share.  
  
That was why Ethan told Jenny he and Zach would be fine at home with their mom so she and Cassie could have a 'girl's day,' whatever that was. So Zach had his own space on the cement floor where he was playing with some legos. When Boyd came home from his shift he'd been in a bad mood, so Ethan got Zach into his jacket planning to go to the playground. The playground was in the same apartment complex down the street from their house where Jake lived so they'd walked by Jake's because Ethan thought maybe Jake might want to play. They'd still been pretty far from Jake's place when they'd first heard the noise coming from his garage. It had scared Zach a lot. It had scared Ethan too, not that he would ever admit it. He was a grown up six year old, after all. Six year old's didn't get scared of loud noises even if they were really really loud. The two boys had crept slowly towards the noise, until it had suddenly stopped. Ethan had called for Jake who had come out of the garage much to the two boys relief. Jake had brought them into the garage and shown them how he was working on the furniture he'd bought the day before. Ethan wanted to use the power sander like Jake, but Jake said he wasn't big enough yet. It was pretty boring rubbing the sand paper across the knob, but that was all Jake would let him do. So Ethan did it because he didn't want Jake to make them leave. Besides, this was guy stuff! If Jenny could go off with that Cassie girl and do girl stuff, then Ethan wanted to do guy stuff with Jake.  
  
Ethan didn't know how long he'd been rubbing the sandpaper over the little knob in his hand when Zach yelling Jake's name caught his attention. It caught Jake's attention too. He turned the sander in his hand off and looked up with the intention of asking Zach what he needed, but with one look at the little boy he knew what the answer would be.   
  
"I gotta go potty," Zach said as he danced from foot to foot.  
  
"Okay," Jake acknowledged as he set the sander down on the cement floor of the garage and held out his hand for Zach. "Now's a good time to take a break anyway. Right, Ethan?"  
  
"Uh huh," Ethan agreed following as Jake led Zach by the hand into the townhouse. Not knowing what else to do, Ethan waited outside the door as Jake helped Zach in the bathroom.  
  
"Why don't we get some lunch?" Jake suggested when he emerged from the bathroom. "Ethan, you need to wash your hands then you can help Zach and I in the kitchen."  
  
Ethan quickly washed his hands not wanting Zach to get to do anything with Jake that he didn't get to do too. Ethan hurried into the kitchen to find Zach sitting on the counter next to the refrigerator in front of which Jake stood looking in the open door. He glanced over as Ethan entered the kitchen. "How's grilled cheese sound to you guys?" Jake asked looking at each of the brothers in turn. "I've got some apples and potato chips to go with 'em."  
  
"Yum!" Zach exclaimed clapping his hands enthusiastically. "Me help!"  
  
Ethan allowed himself a more grown up nod and smile. Jake assigned Zach the task of unwrapping the cheese slices from the plastic. While Ethan buttered slices of bread, Jake put the skillet on the stove and heated a pat of butter. Ethan and Zach watched as Jake tended the sandwiches on the stove as, at the same time, he peeled and sliced a couple of apples. He handed each boy a slice to eat placing the rest in a bowl on the counter between them.   
  
After their lunch, Jake cajoled Zach into his bedroom for an afternoon nap while he and Ethan cleaned the kitchen the same as they had the previous night. Within minutes, the kitchen was clean and the teenage clone and boy settled down on the floor in front of Jake's new couch to do some serious slaying of orcs and trolls on Jake's new game system. Two hours later, fresh from his nap, Zach wandered into the living room to join his brother and Jake. He climbed into Jake's lap and settled in to watch the electronic battles being waged on the big screen television.  
  
That's where Jenny found them hours later as the sun dipped towards the horizon. They were so engrossed in their game none of the trio noticed Jenny and Cassie until Jenny slammed the door to Jake's apartment as hard as she could making Cassie wince. That was a fit of temper she could recognize having been on the receiving end more than once. Her mother, Janet, was a redhead after all and had the temper to prove it. Though she kept it under tight rein at work, there were times dealing with the typical rebelliousness of a teenage daughter that Janet let her temper rip. Cassie was also a bit concerned about being caught between them. It would be nice to have a female friend to share giggly gossip with again instead of being the object of gossip, but her first loyalty was to Jake.  
  
She and Jenny had come back to Jenny's house from the mall to find her younger brothers not in the house and Jenny's step-father drunk on the couch. Cassie had driven her new friend first to the playground and then around the neighborhood for the last twenty minutes. Jenny was adamant that they not involve any adults, but Cassie had finally convinced Jenny to stop and get Jake to help them search.  
  
"What the Hell do you think you're doing?" she screamed at Jake stalking towards the three video game warriors who were now staring at her with the look of deer in headlights.   
  
Mama O'Neill had raised no dummies even if Jack liked to pretend otherwise and Jake was just as astute as the original when his own personal safety was concerned. Just about now, he felt he was in serious danger. "Hello ladies," Jake greeted his two friends with forced cheer and carefully displayed ignorance. "We're playing video games. You guys have fun at the mall?"  
  
"Don't 'hello' me, Jacob Lazarus," Jenny warned him. "I came home and the boys were gone! Cassie and I have been searching the neighborhood for the last half hour."  
  
"Crap," Jake muttered quietly as his eyes moved to glare at Ethan promising a serious talk about responsibility between the two sometime in the near future.  
  
"I'm sorry, Jenny" Jake apologized. "I didn't realize no one knew where they were."  
  
"Boyd had a bottle," Ethan told Jenny. "We was goin' to go to the playground. So we stopped to see if Jake would come play wit' us."  
  
Jake's expression got hard as the word "bottle" came out of Ethan's mouth. "Up you go, Sport" Jake said to Zach as he lifted the toddler from his lap. "We need to talk," Jake told Jenny, anger now evident in his own voice before softening his tone for her brothers. "You guys show Cassie how good you are at that," Jake ordered handing the controller to the Zach.  
  
Jenny stalked into the kitchen anger evident in every step. As Jake followed it was easy to see that his mood perfectly matched Jenny's. "Jenny's mad," Zach told Cassie after climbing into her lap.  
  
"So's Jake," Cassie told the toddler as she threw a knowing look at his older brother. She dropped to the floor next to the two boys allowing Zach to climb into the safety of her lap.  
  
"Jake's mad at me," Ethan whispered. There was such a sad expression on his face that it just about broke Cassie's heart.  
  
"Yeah, Ethan, Jake's mad at you," Cassie confirmed. "Know why?"  
  
Ethan thought about it for a minute before shaking his head.  
  
"He's mad 'cause you scared Jenny," Cassie explained gently, "and Jenny's mad at him because of it. You should have told someone where you were going, and you should have told Jake no one knew where you were."  
  
"I guess," Ethan whispered. His little chin quivered and there were tears in his eyes that he tried to keep from falling. "I didn't mean to scare Jenny," he told Cassie. "I just didn't want to be around Boyd 'cause he got that bottle."  
  
"You did good to get yourself and Zach away from Boyd," Cassie praised him, "but you guys are pretty little to be taking off on your own."  
  
"Jake isn't gonna want to be my friend anymore," Ethan whispered as the tears finally began to fall and his little chest heaved with sobs.  
  
If Ethan weren't so heartbroken at the idea, Cassie would have laughed. Original or clone, Jack O'Neill and Jake Lazarus loved kids. Though he'd only met them less than a week ago, Cassie was sure there was nothing he wouldn't do for these two boys. "He'll forgive you, baby" Cassie promised the sobbing kindergartener hugging him tightly. "He's gonna want to talk to you about what you did," Cassie warned knowing it was so from her own experiences with a certain colonel, "but then you'll be buds again."  
  
"What if Jenny don't like him no more," Ethan worried. "What if she don't want us to see Jake any more."  
  
"We'll just have to wait and see," Cassie told the two boys though she doubted there was a female in the universe who couldn't be swayed by that special brand of charm shared by O'Neill and his younger self. 


	10. Chapter 10

Jenny whirled towards Jake as soon as she reached the center of the kitchen expecting to lay into him with all her anger, but she never got the chance.

"Just exactly how bad is Boyd's drinking, Jenny?" Jake demanded. "And why haven't you told your caseworker about it."

"It's none of your business," Jenny curtly told him.

"Ohh...I beg to differ," Jake drawled. "When kids are gettin' beat it's everyone's business."

"He doesn't hit us," Jenny said. "He's a loud, noisy drunk, but he hasn't hit us."

"Yet," Jake added the addendum Jenny hadn't voiced.

"I'm not going back into foster care," Jenny swore, "and neither are the boys. I'll take them and run before I let that happen."

"Jenny..." Jake objected with doubt and disappointment in his voice.

"No!" Jenny whispered forcefully. She threw a glance over Jake's shoulder into the living room of his small apartment before continuing in a quiet voice. "No, don't you dare presume to think you know what's best for my brothers and I. Look at you! You're not even sixteen and an emancipated minor. Were you even in foster care for one night?" she asked. "Have you ever been beat? Gone without food?"

"No," Jake admitted. At least that was true for the first question, and the other two hadn't happened until he was an adult. "But, Jenny, you guys can't..."

"Yes, we can," Jenny told him. "I'm serious, Jake. We're not going back to foster care. My grandma is too old and sick to get custody of the three of us. They probably wouldn't even let her have custody of me let alone two small boys. We'd get split up, and if that happened there would be no way for me to protect the boys."

"Social Services will protect them," Jake said.

"Like they protected me?" Jenny demanded sneering the verb with such contempt that Jake immediately felt a knot form in his stomach.

"Jenny..." Jake questioned slowly suddenly aware that this conversation was taking a radical turn into a place he wasn't going to like.

"I was raped in the first foster home they put me in," Jenny whispered staring at him with huge eyes that showed exactly how surprised she was to have revealed her secret to him. "I told my social worker, and she asked them about it," Jenny said. "She asked them!"

Jake took a slow step forward aware that even though Jenny's eyes remained locked on his face she wasn't really seeing him anymore. He gently touched the back of her hand with the tip of one finger before slowly taking her hand in his to offer his support. "Then what happened?" Jake asked quietly.

"She left me there," Jenny told him. "The foster father denied it, of course, and she left me there." She took a rapid inhalation of breath then another.

"Exhale, Jenny" Jake commanded trying to stop her from hyper-ventilating.

"I didn't show up at school for two days, so my teacher called my social worker," Jenny continued ignoring his command. "The social worker came with the police." Jake recognized from the original Jack's memories that now that Jenny's nightmare had been brought to the surface it would have to play itself out. All he could do was listen. "I don't remember them coming to the house. Grandma told me later they found me in the basement. I was in the hospital for a couple weeks, and then Grandma took me home with her. She took Ethan too 'cause it was what I wanted."

"Jenny...have you talked to anyone about this?" Jake asked hesitantly. Jack had hated the psych. sessions required by the Air Force after Iraq and every other time something traumatic had happened to him, but Jake was also aware that the one time it hadn't been required, after Charlie's death, Jack hadn't handled it quite so well. Somewhere in the back of his head, Jake knew that he wasn't handling his current trauma very well either and that maybe talking to Frasier would be a good idea.

"You mean a shrink?" Jenny snorted pulled back to the present by his question. "Yeah, I saw one a couple times." She tightened her grip on his hand as she demanded, "No more talk about social workers, Jake."

"I won't promise that unless I can be sure Boyd's not dangerous," Jake told her.

"He's a religious freak who likes to drink," Jenny described her step- father.

"So was David Koresh," Jake remarked earning him a glare from Jenny.

"He's not that weird," Jenny protested.

"Then why did Ethan feel the need to get the two of them out of the house when Boyd turned up with a bottle?" Jake demanded.

"Cause that's what I've taught them to do," Jenny admitted without repentance. "I know how to take care of my brothers, Jake. So just drop it!"

Jake returned her glare with one of his own, but found that unlike those flyboys in the briefing, Jenny couldn't be stared down. "Fine," he finally gave in. "I'll drop it...for now, but I'm going to meet this Boyd character and decide for myself if he's dangerous!" he warned then added, when it seemed as though Jenny couldn't trust that answer, "I promise not to do anything unless I've talked to you first. Now promise me you're not going to do anything stupid like run away."

"Deal," Jenny agreed reluctantly.

"Uh uh," Jake objected. "We're not done dealing yet. I'm getting you and Ethan keys to my place. If you need to get away from Boyd, come hang out here instead of the park or wherever you usually go."

"We'll take the keys," Jenny decided though she was obviously uncomfortable with the idea, "just in case."

"And you guys come over here after school and have a snack with me," Jake demanded deciding to see just how far he could press his luck. "I don't like how skinny you guys are."

"We are not charity cases!" Jenny growled angrily leading Jake to the realization that he'd definitely pressed his luck too far with that comment, "or your pet project slash good deed for the day!"

"This isn't charity!" Jake told her in a voice approaching a shout. "It isn't even about you. It's about me," he admitted much quieter. Jake didn't think he could have admitted that to anyone else...not even Daniel. He was surprised he could even admit it to himself. Jack O'Neill was in the habit of not talking to others about his emotions, at least that was so with adults. Kids, or teenagers in this case, were different. With them he had always felt at ease. "Everything I knew before two weeks ago is gone," Jake told her. "Everything except Cassie, her mom, and Daniel, and even that has changed so much. My life before...my family's lives," he said because that was what SG-1 had been to him, "were about helping people, doing good...making a difference. I need that back!" he told her with the fervor of absolute conviction in his voice. "I need that to keep me going...to keep me from doing something..." Jake let his voice drift off before completing that thought even to himself.

Jenny swallowed past the lump in her throat and blinked back the tears in her eyes, sure to the bottom of her soul that her tears were the absolute last thing that Jake would want to see at the moment. When Jake continued to stare past her at a point on the wall over her shoulder, Jenny reached out to touch his hand with the tip of her finger just as he had done to her then took his hand in hers. "Okay," she decided. "You prop me up, and I'll do the same for you."


	11. Chapter 11

Jake was feeling twitchy, but for the life of him he couldn't understand why. There was a piece of him that worried that whatever this was, it would cost him just that...his life. This twitchy feeling was one very familiar to him. It was the feeling he normally got when a mission was about to go south. He was just beginning, after nearly two months, to think of this as his life...his **_life_** and not some form of purgatory to which he has been sentenced until he came of age for the second time. He had made friends among his peers at school and within the neighborhood beyond Jenny and Cassie. A week ago he'd once again passed one of the traditional American rites of passage into adulthood. He'd gotten his driver's license. Less than three hours later he was the proud owner of a late model Jeep SUV. This fact was greatly improving his popularity as he became the unofficial transport for his growing crowd of friends. It was a bit of bribery, he acknowledged to himself, but it was all for a good cause as his popularity spilled over onto Cassie and Jenny.

Jake was currently waiting for Jenny and two of his other friends, a brother and sister who lived in his apartment complex. School had ended ten minutes ago, and the plan was for Jake to drive the other three home from school saving them the long bus ride. That twitchy feeling was growing again, Jake noted absently. A few days ago, he'd come to the realization that the twitchy feeling went away when he arrived at school and returned as he left the school grounds. He was also aware that over the days the feeling was getting worse. Something was coming, Jake knew, but he couldn't decide just what it was.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he was taken by surprise as Jenny jogged up. "Hey!" she greeted him causing him to jump a bit. His nerves were stretched tighter than he realized, Jake noted as his heartbeat returned to a more normal pace. "Jamal and Jasmine are staying for a meeting of some kind," Jenny informed him.

"Okay," Jake acknowledged as he opened the door for her then walked around to the other side to slide behind the wheel. A few miles down the road Jake slowed as he saw a barrier placed across the street. The sign attached to it proclaimed a water main break ahead and instructed him to detour right onto a side road. The twitchy feeling abruptly turned into full-blown alarm bells ringing in his mind. "I don't like this," Jake announced quietly to Jenny bringing the everyday chatter between them to an end.

Jenny was a smart girl, and over the past two months she'd seen enough to know that Jake was not your ordinary teenager. In the past couple weeks, since their confrontation in his kitchen, he'd taken it upon himself to begin teaching her the basics of self-defense. Even after meeting her step-father, Jake still seemed dubious of the skinny zealot who was her mother's husband. Jake had even taught her brothers a few basics of self-defense in how to evade and escape being grabbed by Boyd when he got drunk. From this and what little he'd said about his family, Jenny knew Jake had some.... interesting... skills. Jenny straightened mimicking Jake's alert position. She searched their surroundings for whatever was making Jake so anxious, but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. She continued to scan the area as Jake drove slowly down the narrow street noting as she did so that Jake was doing the same. Jenny felt her heart lodge in her throat suddenly very afraid, but of what she didn't know. She didn't remain ignorant for long as they came to a stop behind a beat-up white delivery van.

"Crap!" Jake swore throwing the Jeep into reverse. Tires squealed as Jake stepped on the gas backing at rapid speed away from the van. They didn't get far though as a dark van pulled into the middle of the street behind them blocking their retreat. Jake immediately threw the Jeep back into drive swinging onto the sidewalk in an attempt to get around the white van. They were almost around the van when it suddenly began to move...towards them! Before Jenny's brain could process what was happening the white van had pushed their vehicle into the side of the building. The abrupt stop threw Jake and Jenny forward in their seats causing Jake's head to hit the steering wheel.

She was just beginning to shake her head to clear it when Jenny heard the screech of metal on metal. She turned her head towards the sound in time to see the white van back away as the side and passenger doors opened and several men dressed all in black with faces covered in black ski masks jump out. There was no reaction from Jake though. "Jake!" Jenny screamed scrambling to get her seatbelt off. A moment later, the driver's side door was thrown open by one of the mysterious MIBs. "Get away from him!" Jenny demanded as her seatbelt finally came free and she scrambled across the seats to grab for Jake as they dragged him from Jeep. "No!" she denied.

"What do we do about her?" one of the masked men asked.

"Take her with us," one of the others replied. "We can use her against him."

"What are you doing? Let us go!" Jenny demanded as she kicked out at the first man who had spoken. When he fell back she sprang from the Jeep and attacked the other two who were carrying Jake back to the second van. By the time they'd thrown her off them the first man had recovered and grabbed Jenny in a bear hug from behind. The two carrying Jake threw him into the back of the van and Jenny followed a moment later. She scrambled to her knees and back towards the van door only to be pushed back by two of their attackers.

"Drive," the one who climbed into the passenger seat command before turning to the two in the back. "Sedate her," he told them.

Jenny scrambled away from the two men towards the back of the van. She turned searching for the door release then turned once again as she felt a hand reaching towards her shoulder. "No!" Jenny whimpered as she kicked out at the man reaching for her. "Don't touch me!" As the two men advanced on her, Jenny was thrown back in time to a time when she was a frightened twelve year old whose foster father was sneaking into her room late at night. What little control Jenny had over her fear and panic disappeared. She began kicking and clawing wildly at the two men forgetting everything Jake had taught her over the previous month. Her wild defense continued until one of the two pinned her to the floor of the van, and she felt a prick in her arm. Then Jenny knew nothing at all.

When she came to, Jenny found herself alone in a small room. She rolled quickly to her feet and backed against the wall as she surveyed her surroundings. _'No Jake,'_ Jenny thought as she remembered seeing the blood all over his face as their masked attackers pulled him from the SUV. After several fruitless minutes trying to open the single door, Jenny began searching the room for something... anything... she could use to break the lock or use against her captors when they returned. Unfortunately, she found nothing. She could only stand in impotent fury and fear as the door was pushed open.

"Where's Jake?" she immediately demanded as the now unmasked men entered.

"We're taking you to him now," the man on the left told her as he aimed a lethal looking pistol at her chest. The other man stepped out of the room and took a few steps down the hall. The man who had spoken to a step to the side, but unlike TV and movie gunmen, he simply waited for her to follow the other man out then fell into step behind. Jenny did her best as they trooped through the corridor to take in as much as she could of the surroundings. Though they passed many doorways, Jenny saw no obvious exits to the building, and the acoustic tile ceiling gave no hint as to whether or not there were more levels to the building. The lifeless gray walls of the hallways certainly gave no hints either.

Finally, they came to yet another door, this one marked innocently enough as "Room 7A." This time, they did not pass the door by. The man in the lead opened the door and stepped inside. When she hesitated to follow, the man behind her this time followed the official thug guidelines of Hollywood and shoved the barrel of his pistol into her back. Jenny threw a glare at him over her shoulder before she thought better of it. _'Antagonizing the man with the gun is not such a great strategy,'_ Jenny silently chastised herself. As she returned her attention to the room, Jenny gasped. This was an "interrogation" room straight out of a bad James Bond knock-off. Fluorescent lights hanging overhead flooded the bare white walls and concrete floor with light. Lying in a heap on the floor was the subject of their interrogation. It was Jake. Remembering what the thug in charge had said just before they'd dragged her from the Jeep, Jenny realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach what her role in this surreal drama was to be.

Jenny swallowed her fear for herself and moved forward to kneel before Jake. The fluorescent lights overhead made Jake's pallor stand out all the more from the bruises and reflected in the blood slowly trickling down his face from the wound on his forehead. "Jake?" Jenny asked as she touched his shoulder lightly. She'd learned the hard way a few weeks ago when he'd fallen asleep watching TV with her brothers that it wasn't a good idea to startle Jake when he slept. She gently cupped his jaw in her shaking hands and tilted his face upward. "Jake, can you hear me?" she asked in a slightly louder voice. They'd already been at this for some time, Jenny realized as she took in the split lip and swollen eye that hadn't been present when they'd been thrown into the back of the van. These injuries hadn't been caused in the crash. More than likely, Jenny thought, they were the result of a collision between Jake's face and someone's fist. "Jake talk to me," Jenny begged quietly. When Jake still didn't respond, she swiveled to look at their captors. "What did you do to him?" Jenny demanded. "Why are you doing this?"

"The freak inherited some information we want," the blonde who looked like his IQ rivaled his shoe size said.

"Inherited? From his parents?" Jenny asked.

"Parents?" the blonde thug snorted. "That freak don't have parents. They grew him in a test tube. He's a freaking clone!"


	12. Chapter 12

_'This is so not going to be good,' _Jake thought to himself having roused enough to hear one of their captors tell Jenny his secret.

"You're crazy!" Jenny denied.

"The Roswell Grays cloned him from their pet Air Force colonel," the blonde continued. "A guy named O'Neill. Except they didn't just clone his body. They copied his mind too."

"Oh, come on!" Jake heard her protest as he fought to open his eyes knowing the one was already swelling shut. "Like Dolly the sheep?" Jenny sneered. "I'm young, not stupid!"

Jake groaned then, loudly and deliberately, to draw attention away from Jenny and back onto himself before she could piss their captors off any more than she just had.

"Wake up, freak!" the blonde thug commanded a second before a booted foot connected with his already abused ribs. Jake heard the snap of one or maybe more of his ribs breaking at the same time as he felt it. _'Yeah,' _Jake confirmed to himself as he fought off the welcoming darkness of unconsciousness. _'They're pissed.'_

"Knock it off!" the smarter one yelled. "Alive, remember! We need him alive!"

"He ain't going to break," the blonde argued. "Ba'al tortured the real one to death a couple dozen times and he never broke." Jake could hear in the blonde's voice just how badly the man wanted to continue his interrogation of Jake and was just as sure the blonde thug wanted to see if he couldn't do better than the goa'uld.

"That's what the girl's for, idiot" his partner explained as if to a small child. "He's protective of his friends and kids...especially kids."

"I'm trapped in a bad _Lifetime_ movie of the week," Jenny murmured as she helped Jake sit up.

He chuckled at the joke then regretted it immediately as his ribs protested even that slight movement. _'Now how are you going to get out of this one, Jake?'_ he asked himself. "So Dumb and Dumber? NID, right?" Jake demanded inspecting them out of his one good eye. "Man, they must be scraping the bottom of the barrel to have recruited the two of you."

"Why you little..." the blonde growled as he curled his hand into a fist and drew it back. His partner caught his arm before he could let fly.

"He's baiting you," his partner snarled as he held Blondie's arm back. "Ignore him," he commanded pushing the blonde back and taking his place standing before Jake. "We just want some information," he explained in a conciliatory manner.

"No," Jake told them bluntly.

"We don't want to hurt the girl," smart guy said, "but we will if we have to."

"No," Jake repeated his refusal even as he moved to place himself between Jenny and the two thugs.

"Tell us about the SGC," the blonde in his role as bad cop demanded.

"Piss off," Jake snarled back.

Good cop wasn't quite quick enough to stop his partner this time, Jake noted as the fist came flying at his face. Jake surged upwards throwing his attacker's aim off so that he caught the punch on his shoulder instead of the face. Jake kept moving though to push the blonde thug off balance and away from Jenny. Once Jake had him on the floor, he made sure his aim was much better than the blonde's as he delivered a solid punch to the kidneys. Jake and the blonde thug continued to scuffle on the floor for another moment or two until good cop waded into the fray once again pulling his partner back away from Jake.

"You've signed your own death warrant, you know?" Jake taunted the two as he staggered to his feet once again placing himself between Jenny and their captors. "This is treason. SG-1 will hunt you down for this, and when they do you'll get a bullet in the head courtesy of Uncle Sam."

"It won't come to that," the one playing good cop told him. "We have friends in high places."

Jake nodded acceptance of that statement. "You probably do, but it doesn't matter," he said. "If the government lets you off, Jack won't let you get away with this. Not killing a kid."

"You're no child," bad cop sneered. "They don't give a damn about you."

"She is," Jake reminded them as he ruthlessly smashed down the traitorous thought that O'Neill and the rest of the SGC really wouldn't care what happened to him. "She's sixteen. She's got no part in this. They'll give a damn about that. Just let her go."

"You want us to let her go then tell us what we want to know," Bad cop suggested.

"Come on," the smarter one commanded as he moved to the door. "Let's give him some time to think about it."

"She sure is a pretty little girl, ain't she, Freak?" the blonde leered. An instant later, Jake had pushed Jenny completely behind him, and the blonde smiled proving he wasn't quite as stupid as Jake had thought. _'Crap!'_ Jake swore silently, realizing the dumb blonde had actually managed to trick him and that he'd just placed Jenny in even more danger. The blonde then followed his friend out of the impromptu cell. Jake breathed a sigh of relief at the reprieve only to realize he'd stepped from one battle into another. He wanted good cop and bad cop to come back. He stood a better chance of winning with them than he did with Jenny. Doing battle with words was Daniel's forte not his.

The best defense is a good offense, Jake reminded himself. "You're taking this pretty calmly," Jake commented.

"Freaking out isn't going to help us any," Jenny told him, "and you'd definitely freak out if I started crying."

"Point," Jake admitted. He did not deal well with crying females.

"But my hands are shaking, and I feel like I'm either going to throw up or pass out," Jenny informed him holding her badly shaking hands in front of her as proof. "So let's talk about something else. A clone huh?" Jenny asked as Jake took her arm and moved them both to the far end of the room where he gently pushed her down to sit against the wall.

Jake released her arm then turned to rest his back against the wall. "Yeah, right" he guffawed as he slid down the wall to sit on the floor next to her. "That's just..."

"The God's honest truth, I'd bet" Jenny interrupted as she removed the baggy camp shirt she wore layered over a thin tank top. "You're definitely not an average teenager, Jake. You barely know who Britney Spears is, but you can sing every CCR song ever released," she argued as she gently used the shirt to wipe the blood away from Jake's face.

"So I've got a more refined taste in music than most teenagers," Jake retorted distractedly as he lifted his own shirt to poke tentatively at the bruises forming on his torso. "You know a lot of their songs too," Jake pointed out.

"I'm a geek, Jake" Jenny reminded him, "and my dad liked to listen to Creedance." She watched quietly as Jake carefully ran his fingers along the ridges of his ribs. She tensed along with Jake as he hissed loudly in pain when he found where the blonde's fist had broken at least one of his ribs. Jenny waited until he'd completed his survey before speaking again. "You didn't disagree when they said you weren't a kid, Jake. You were out of it when they grabbed us, but I wasn't. A couple lunatics didn't just grab us off the street. It was a group of at least five, probably more, and we both know they planned it in advance. They blocked the street with that water main break. They used two different vans working together. They were looking for **_you_** specifically," she stated ticking off her arguments one by one and punctuated the final nail in the coffin burying his cover story by poking her index finger into his chest. "Jake, if I'm going to die, I want to at least know why," Jenny demanded.

"You're not going to die!" Jake swore. "I'll get us out of this, I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Jake" Jenny commanded as she drew in a shuddering breath. "We're a couple teenagers, after all."

Jake sighed. "You're a teenager. I'm ...not," Jake admitting that what their captors had said was true without technically admitting anything at all. "And I **_can_** get us out of this!" he vowed to her even though he wasn't so sure of the truth of that statement himself.


	13. Chapter 13

Jake first became aware of the sound of someone crying as he fought his way back towards awareness despite his body's screaming protest that oblivious unconsciousness was the preferred state of affairs. It was Jenny who was crying, Jake realized as the last few days came back to him bit by bit. He should open his eyes and try to calm Jenny down, Jake knew, but at the moment even that simple action was beyond him. Jake used the remembered training and experiences of his other life to block everything but analyzing the tactical situation from his mind. His thoughts were coming too slowly, Jake realized, adding concussion and other possible brain injuries to his inventory of bodily damage. Things weren't looking good, Jake had to admit as he coughed weakly.

"Jake?" Jenny questioned pushing the hair back from his face. A tear dripped down onto his cheek then rolled gently into his mouth where the salty taste mingled with the coppery flavor of blood. He didn't know if he was going to be able to keep his promise to Jenny after all. If he were honest with himself, he had to admit he really hadn't expected he would need to keep it. Jake has expected SG-1 to come for them. It was hard to keep track of time in their little windowless prison, but he guess that several days at least had passed since he and Jenny had been taken. If SG-1 were going to come, they would have been here by now. He was running out of time, Jake thought. He knew too that when his time ran out so did Jenny's as the only reason they were keeping her alive was to keep him in line.

With some effort, Jake got his right eye open just enough to see the blurry image of Jenny above him. "Yeah," Jake managed to whisper. It was hard to breath, Jake realized. "Help me sit up, Jenny" he asked in a wheezy voice so weak he could hardly believe it was his.

"I don't know, Jake," Jenny argued. "You've got a head wound."

"Yeah," Jake wheezed. He paused to take a shallow breath, "but...can't...breath." Realizing just how much difficulty he was having, Jenny quickly lifted his upper body and braced him against her chest. "Better," Jake confirmed before she could ask. "When they come in again," Jake instructed pausing to again catch his breath, "I'm going to create a distraction and you're...going to run."

"No," Jenny refused. "I'm not leaving you."

"Jenny..." Jake wheezed.

"No," Jenny stated with absolute finality. "I am not leaving you here."

"Jenny, you need to go for help," Jake told her. "I'm hurt too bad...You need to leave me here and bring back help."

"What if they kill you?" Jenny demanded.

"If you don't try they're going to kill us both," Jake answered her with blunt truth. "And soon."

"Jake..." Jenny whimpered in a voice full of fear.

"I've only got the strength to try this once," Jake warned his friend. "When they come in again, I'm going to rush them and you're going to slip out. Are you with me?"

Jenny wasn't sure what she should do. Jake was hurt so badly she couldn't believe he could go another round with their captors, but she could also see that he wasn't going to last much longer without medical help. Finally, she decided that she would just have to trust to whatever training and skill Jake had. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll do what you tell me."

When the key rattled in the door announcing the arrival of their captors, Jake had taken up position to the right of the door with Jenny directly behind him. Jake waited for the second of their two captors to step into the room then lunged forward pushing both away from the door. The plan was for Jenny to follow behind him breaking for the door as soon as he'd pushed the two guards away. Unfortunately, plans didn't always go as expected and such was the case here. Things happened so quickly there was no way to tell where it went wrong, it may have been that Jake forgot to take into account the smaller stature of his teenage form or was overly optimistic about the strength he would be able to put into his attack in his current condition. It may have been that the two guards were simply more alert that Jake had thought. The smarter dark-haired guard was the first into the room, and when Jake attacked he managed to throw his body weight to the side leaving his meaner colleague free to reach forward and grab Jenny's arm as she made her break for the door.

"No!" Jenny screamed as the the guard's arm bit into her arm and pulled her back into the cell. With her free-hand she smacked ineffectually at the guard holding her arm.

"Too bad, Freak," the guard taunted. "This was your last chance. The PTB decided it's too dangerous to hold you here any longer. They don't think you're going to talk, so they've decided to learn from you another way."

Jake lunged away from the guard holding him intent on trying one more time to break Jenny free before it was too late. Behind him, the second guard had drawn his gun.

"Jake!" Jenny screamed.

Jake didn't change course though as he grabbed the blonde guard's shoulder trying to shake loose his hold on Jenny. For a split second he thought he might succeed then pain exploded in the back of his head and he felt himself falling.

"Jake!" Jenny screamed again as she redoubled her struggle against the guard.

"Take him down to the ghouls in the lab coats," the blonde said to his colleague. "I've got her."

The other guard didn't appear happy about it, but he holstered his weapon then picked Jake's unconscious body up in a fireman's carry leaving Jenny alone with the blonde.

"Now let's have some fun," the blonde guard sneered as he kicked the door to the cell closed with his foot.

Jenny felt herself go cold at his words, but this time she wasn't afraid. This time that cold brought with it an icy calm as she remembered everything the psychologist and most recently Jake in this very cell had told her about rapists. Rape, they'd told her, wasn't about sex. It was about power. Her fear fed his sense of power, and so Jenny refused to show fear. Instead she concentrated on the self-defense lessons Jake had been giving her over the past few months and the whispered instruction he'd given her in this cell in between "sessions" with their captors. Jenny dropped to the floor wrenching her arm from the blonde guard's hold. As soon as her rear end made contact with the cement floor she lifted both feet aiming a kick with all the force she could muster at the guard. Her first blow had the guard protectively doubled over his family jewels. Jenny wasted no time following up that first kick with another to the face. As he fell face first to the ground, Jenny picked herself up off the floor quickly grabbing his weapon from the holster at his waist. She backed away out of reach holding the weapon steady on the guard's still form. Several seconds passed as Jenny caught her breath and still the guard remained still on the ground. Jenny cautiously shuffled forward holding the gun trained on the guard with one hand as she searched his pockets with the other until she located the keys to the cell, his cell phone, and another set of keys with a car alarm key fob attached. All of these she stuck in her own pockets as she backed away from the guard and out of the cell.

As soon as she'd locked the door, Jenny turned around swiveling her had in both directions to look down the corridor. _'Which way?'_ she asked herself. Deciding there was no way to tell, Jenny picked a direction then started making her way down the hall as quietly as she knew how checking each door as she went. Finally, she heard voices coming from one of the rooms ahead of her and cautiously approached. She hadn't even reached the door before she heard Jake's voice as he apparently attempted to cajole his captors out of killing him.

Jenny got as close to the door as she could then edged her way into the room where two men in lab coats stood near a gurney to which Jake was strapped down. "Don't move," she commanded as she levered the gun at the two men. The two turned in surprise quickly registering the fact that they were now the captives. "Hands over your head," Jenny demanded. When the two weren't quick enough to comply, she added, "Now!"

"Hey Beavis," Jake demanded from the gurney. "Undo these straps."

When they hesitated, Jenny reinforced Jake's order, "Do as he says."

As soon as the restraints had been removed Jake rolled from the gurney and frisked the two men. Then he ordered, "Now in the closet." Jenny stayed where she was near the entrance of the room covering them with her purloined hand gun while Jake locked the two men in the closet. As soon as the door was locked, Jake let himself fall into a nearby desk chair. "You need to get out of here, Jenny" Jake commanded.

"Not without you," Jenny once again argued.

"Damnit Jenny," Jake swore. "I'm not strong enough to walk out of here."

"Fine," Jenny spat as she marched over to where he sat. She reversed her grip on the gun handing it to Jake with competence. "Then you shoot, and I'll steer," Jenny informed him as she grabbed the back of the chair he sat in, "but I'm not leaving here without you."

It was only then that Jake realized that the chair was on wheels.

Noting that he was about to continue the argument, Jenny held out the other items she'd confiscated from the guard. "We've also got a car and a cell phone," she informed him.

It hurt like hell, but Jake managed a smile of approval for Jenny. "Home Jeeves!" he commanded.


	14. Chapter 14

Daniel sank deeper into the chair opposite General Hammond's desk wishing he were anywhere else. This meeting was undeniably a waste of time, but he knew the general needed someone on his side in this meeting with Woolsey. Hammond wanted Daniel here for his diplomatic skills. Unfortunately those skills seemed to have deserted Daniel at the moment.

"The loss of Dr. Frasier has cost the Air Force and by extension the SGC hundreds of thousands of dollars," Woolsey admonished Hammond.

"Not to mention the loss of a good honorable woman," Daniel interjected with an angry glare. "A daughter who has lost her only parent."

"Yes, well..." Woolsey temporized blinking with the realization of just how callous his harangue must have sounded to these two men who had known the dead woman.

He was saved from having to continue by the knock at the door.

"Enter," Hammond barked.

Sgt. Harriman cautiously entered the room recognizing the anger laced in Hammond's voice. "Sir," he greeted the general. "We've gotten a call from the security office topside. An SUV just crashed through the main gate. The driver is a teenage girl. She's waving a gun and demanding to speak to you or a member of SG-1."

"Cassandra!" Daniel cried and forgetting protocol left the room at a run.

"Sir, I had them pipe the feed from the cameras down to the control room. It's not Ms. Frasier," Harriman informed the general as he rose to follow Jackson out of the room, then paused uncertain how to continue, "Whoever she is, she looks like she's been beaten, sir."

"Thank you, sergeant. We'll take it from here," Hammond told his aide as he passed him on the way out of the office. Woolsey trailed behind causing Hammond to wonder if this incident would find it's way into his report as well. The two men caught up with Jackson at the elevators.

"Come on!" Daniel urged the digital display of numbers that slowly increased until finally it read "27" and the doors to the elevator opened in front of them.

"It's not Cassandra," Hammond informed Daniel as the three men stepped into the elevator.

"But," Daniel protested.

"Sgt. Harriman looked at the surveillance video," Hammond told him.

"Then who is it?" Daniel wondered.

"Do security breaches like this happen often, General?" Woolsey demanded. "A teenager with a car breaching the security..."

"The outer level of security of NORAD," Hammond corrected. "There are at least a dozen security points between the front gate and the SGC."

"Still..." Woolsey objected.

"Now isn't the time, Mr. Woolsey," the general reprimanded the younger man. "You can criticize after this matter is settled."

"Now see here!"

"Shut up," Daniel snarled at the other man as the elevator doors opened and he took off at a run towards the main gate. They needed to get there quickly before some trigger happy SF panicked and shot the girl. Whether the girl was Cassandra or not didn't matter. They needed to diffuse the situation before it got out of control. Daniel slowed his pace as he came up behind the ring of guards surrounding the crashed vehicle and it's driver. "Stand down," Daniel ordered in his best imitation of General Hammond's commanding bark.

From behind him, Daniel heard Hammond confirm, "Do as he says."

Daniel gently pushed through the ring of guards to get his first good look at the cause of the commotion. He was glad to see that so far there hadn't been any shooting on either side. A moment later he realized the driver's identity. "Jenny?" he called cautiously. "It's Dr. Jackson. Jake's friend, Daniel."

The girl whirled towards the voice as she shuddered to contain another sob. "Please help me," she whimpered.

"Of course we'll help you, Jenny" he assured the girl as she turned back to the vehicle. "Jenny, what's going on?" Daniel asked as he slowly moved towards her doing his best not to startle the obviously traumatized girl. He watched as she placed the pistol on the roof the SUV and opened rear driver's side door. Daniel heard boots moving towards him from behind and motioned them back. A part of his mind registered that General Hammond had reinforced Daniel's order, but his focus remained on Jenny. 'What's going on?' Daniel asked himself as he watched Jenny reach into the back seat of the SUV. He continued to move forward until he could see through the window into the back seat. What he saw twisted his stomach in knots even as he shouted over his shoulder, "Get the medics out here now! Move!" Daniel moved forward to grab Jenny by the shoulders.

She jumped away batting at his hands. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked.

"Okay," Daniel agreed. "It's okay. Calm down. It's going to be okay."

"You have to help him," Jenny demanded. "Jake said to bring him here...to only trust SG-1 or General Hammond. We have to help him," she pleaded as she reached once more for the still form in the back seat.

"No, Jenny" Daniel commanded as he gently pushed her hands away. "We need to let the medics take care of him. We could hurt him worse moving him."

"He said to only trust SG-1 or General Hammond," Jenny repeated. "He said..."

"General Hammond is right here," Daniel soothed the distraught teenager. "We're not going to let anything happen to Jake."

"You already did!" she screamed suddenly turning on him, slapping at his chest in anger. "Why didn't you come?!" she demanded. "He was sure you'd come..." All the fight seemed to leave her and she sagged into Daniel's chest sobbing uncontrollably. "Why didn't you come?" Jenny asked again as Daniel gently pulled her away from the SUV to make room for the medics to get to Jake.

"How did this happen, Jenny?" Daniel asked gently ignoring for now her question. It was a question he didn't want to think about though he knew the answer well enough. "What happened to you?"

In fits and starts between great shuddering sobs, Jenny told him of being forced off the road and dragged into the van. As she described waking up in the makeshift cell with Jake still out cold beside her, they raced to follow the gurney hurtling towards the infirmary. General Hammond and Woolsey followed behind listening as Jenny described days of captivity during which Jake was repeatedly tortured for information that he stubbornly refused to give.

When they reached the infirmary, Daniel gently steered Jenny to a bed in the main ward while Jake's gurney went directly to one of the urgent care rooms near the operating theatre. A nurse appeared next to the gurney, but when he attempted to strap a blood pressure cuff to Jenny's arm she protested pushing him away. "Leave me alone," she demanded. "Get away from me."

"Jenny, this is Henry Grant. He's a nurse," Daniel told her. "Please let him examine you. You've obviously been hurt."

"I'm fine," Jenny said. "Leave me alone!" she growled once again batting Lt. Grant's hands away from her.

Looking more closely at the teenager, Daniel noticed that the button on her pants had been ripped away and remembered the long serious conversation he and Janet had with Jake concerning Jenny and her brothers. Daniel briefly closed his eyes hoping he was wrong about what had happened to Jenny. Even if she hadn't been raped, Daniel was sure she must be reacting at least in part to the trauma of her past. "Henry, will you get Captain Gerhart up here to look at Jenny," he requested the young lieutanant.

"Yes, sir" Grant quietly confirmed understanding exactly why Dr. Jackson would request that the SGC's rape trauma nurse be called to examine this teenage girl.

"Cassie's mom," Jenny suddenly demanded. "Cassie's mom is a doctor here. I want her."

Daniel swallowed the tight lump of grief. "Cassie's mom is dead," he gently informed Jenny. "She died on Friday."

"That's when they took us," Jenny told Daniel, surprise evident in her voice.

"Yeah," Daniel agreed. "They must have been watching Jake for quite some time. They probably took advantage of the chaos caused by Janet's death to grab you and Jake without anyone noticing." Daniel hypothesized. "Janet, Cassie, and I have been watching out for Jake. Cassie sees him every day at school, and we've made sure one of us has seen or talked to him on the weekends too."

They were both quiet for several seconds. Daniel was lost in memories of this friend while Jenny didn't know what to say in the face of his obvious grief. She hadn't known Cassie or her mother long, but they'd both been good to her.

"You wanted me, Dr. Jackson" Captain Gerhart asked from behind him breaking the silence.

"Yeah, Susan, can you take a look at Jenny?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Jenny repeated once again. "I don't need to be looked at."

"Miss, you've got a nasty bruise on your forehead. There's dried blood around your nose, and you've got a fat lip," Susan Gerhart listed. "You're not fine."

"It's nothing," Jenny told her. "Jake's the one who's hurt."

"Your friend Jake is being looked after," Gerhart assured Jenny. "He's already being prepped for surgery. He's got some internal bleeding, broken ribs, several facial fractures, and a concussion. Now let me see to _your_ injuries."


End file.
